“In the journey of institutional excellence; defining, attracting and nurturing stakeholders that involve students, faculty and long-term sustainable relationships with the alumni are of utmost significance. Focus on academics, management, strategy and a visionary perspective could add many path breaking changes in the education system”, said Mr. Ashank Desai, Founder, Mastek while delivering his inaugural address at the CII - WeSchool ‘Principal’s Conclave’.
The recent call for educational institutions to be entitled to excellence has created multiple discussions about the objectivity of superior quality education. What are the key parameters in higher education that distinguish education institutions and how it could be measured are some common topics of conversations doing rounds in the academic circles. S.P. Mandali's Prin. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) in association with CII – Western Region, recently hosted ‘Principal’s Conclave’ 2017 under theme ‘Building Institutions of Excellence’ on its Mumbai campus. The conclave attended by Deans, Vice-Principals and Directors from over forty educational institutions and colleges across Mumbai took a retrospective approach to understand and highlight the areas of improvement for new age students.
Elaborating on the theme of the conclave, ‘Building Institutions of Excellence’ Mr. K. Nandakumar, Chairman and Managing Director, Chemtrols Industries, said “Reformative measures in education need to be implemented from schools to business schools. Excellence is not a destination; it is a process to train the trainer in order to enlighten the mind-set from aptitude to attitude. There is nothing that must stop us from illuminating the rich legacy of education similar to the Nalanda University in the present times.”
In the opening remarks, Prof. Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool and Co-Chairman, CII- Western Region, Higher Education Sub Committee said, “The conclave is a collaborative effort to ascertain the future of education through collective wisdom of academia. It is an interactive platform that aims to delve deep into the multi-dimensional role of education. Faced with technical challenges in a VUCA world, it is the responsibility of each stakeholder to question their individual contribution to the progress of education in India.”
The first session on ‘Confluence of Talent, Resources and Governance’ had prominent industry professionals and educationists such as Mr. Rohitash Gupta, CFO, eClerx; Mr. Vaibhav Srivastava, Education Vertical Leader, CISCO and Dr. Shobhana Vasudevan, Principal, R.A. Podar College of Commerce as panelists and the discussion was moderated by Ms. Rani Desai, Chief People Officer, Deloitte.
The second session on ‘Best Practices and Next Practices - Learn, Work and Lead’ invited experts to share new models on building world class institutions. Dr. C R Chavan, Director, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management; Mr. Hanuman Tripathi seasoned entrepreneur and Kevin John, GM Strategic Alliances, Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers (RAGC) were the panelists for this session.
While chairing this session, Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool and Co-Chairman, CII- Western Region, Higher Education Sub Committee commented on imparting value education by exposing students to the market and consumers and not limiting them to the confines of the classroom. Teachers need to be learners all their life and teaching-learning is a reciprocal process. He expressed concern over the future of work in today’s changing market and believed that education has to be human and not mechanical. He wrapped up by defining education as something we remember long after we have forgotten what we memorised.
